Supreme Court To Hear Plea Of CAA-Protected Refugees Fearing Disenfranchisement In West Bengal SIR Process

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice on a plea filed on behalf of refugees from Bangladesh who fear disenfranchisement due to delays in issuing citizenship certificates under the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019.

A bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was hearing a special leave petition filed by NGO Aatmadeep. The petition challenges a Calcutta High Court order that declined to entertain a PIL seeking protection for Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and Jain refugees who entered India before 2014 but have not yet been granted citizenship.

Senior Advocate Karuna Nandy, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that the refugees belong to Buddhist, Sikh, Jain and Christian communities who fled religious persecution in Bangladesh and settled in West Bengal prior to the statutory cut-off date. She said their applications under the CAA have remained unprocessed. "Even though we came prior to 2014, our applications have not been processed." 

CJI Kant said the matter would be heard in detail on December 9 along with connected petitions concerning the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in West Bengal."Our problem is that we cannot distinguish only because somebody is Jain, somebody is Hindu," CJI said. Agreeing to the point raised by Justice Bagchi, CJI said, "my brother has rightly said that, that has to be examined on a case-by-case basis."

The bench agreed to issue notice in the matter and listed it for a detailed hearing on December 9, along with other matters challenging the SIR in West Bengal. 

The present SLP has been filed by NGO Aatmadeep, on behalf of several persons who are covered by the Proviso to Section 2(i)(b) of the Citizenship Act, 1955, which has been inserted by the Amendment Act of 2019. The plea challenges the refusal of the Calcutta High Court to consider the case of the minority persons because the plea was filed by the NGO instead of the affected person himself. 

As per the plea, under the 2019 Amendment, S.6B was also inserted in the Citizenship Act, giving the right to the persons covered by the Proviso to Section 2(l)(b) to apply for a grant of a certificate of registration or a certificate of naturalisation.

However, because of the ongoing delay in the Issuance of citizenship certificates, coupled with the non-recognition of acknowledgement receipts during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR), the plea states there is a 'serious constitutional crisis' being created. 

The plea further states that " the acknowledgement receipt generated upon online submission serves as the primary and official proof of an application under the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024. In the absence of final disposal within a fixed period, such receipts must be treated as valid provisional proof of pending citizenship determination, at least for limited civil purposes such as inclusion or retention in the electoral rolls during Special Intensive Revision (SIR)."

 The plea also states that the State's delay in issuing timely certificates has resulted in massive panic amongst the refugees who fear statelessness. It details that : "The respondents' omission/inability to issue timely citizenship certificates has concerned the petitioner and despite being protected by the Second Proviso to Section 6B(3) it apprehends that the ongoing delay and non recognition of application receipts during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) might result in large-scale disenfranchisement and loss of citizenship rights, which would hinder the social integration and economic rehabilitation of refugees and persecuted minorities. The persons, for whom the Public Interest Litigation has been filed, are panic-stricken about the outcome of Special Intensive Revision (SIR). Several newspaper reports are, there where panic-stricken persons have committed suicide."

The plea has been filed with the assistance of AOR Anish Roy. 

Case Details : AATMADEEP vs. THE UNION OF INDIA| SLP(C) No. 034474 - / 2025